MEMO 1 (4)

Oil R&T/ Olli Mustonen, Steven Gust 8 September 2010

Neste Oil Corporation Business ID 1852302-9

Domicile Espoo

www.nesteoil.com

Carbon sequestration by oil palm plantations

We would like to draw your attention to what we feel is a major shortcoming with the data used for the 

estimation of carbon sequestration by oil palm in Southeast Asia. We believe this is a serious issue 

and that it should be taken into consideration in the ILUC estimations for oil palm.

In the estimation of C stock change, EPA uses the Winrock database (Annex 1) The value used by 

Winrock for carbon stocks of oil palm is taken from Excel sheet on Emissions Factors data and is 68.0 

tonne for Perennial C stock (MT C ha-1). The reference for this value is given in the Methods 

worksheet as: Carbon stocks for oil palm (Malaysia, Indonesia) were estimated using the value from 

Table 5.3, 2006 IPCC GL AFOLU (68 t C/ha) ( http://www.ipccnggip.iges.or.jp//public/2006gl/vol4.html ) Table 5.3 can be found from the chapter on Cropland. Table 

5.3 is the Default above-ground biomass for various types of perennial croplands and can be found 

on page 5.9. The value for oil palm in SE Asia is 136.0 t / ha of above ground biomass. Assuming 

50% of this biomass is carbon, the value of 68 tC/ha is derived. This value is used by Winrock. In 

Table 5.3 there is no reference to how this value was obtained. This means that it is not possible to 

review the methodology of the actual measurements or the data sampling size etc. 

In order to better understand how much carbon oil palm plantations sequester over their lifetime we 

have found the following references (a review is given below) : 

1. Syahrinudin (2005):The potential of oil palm and forest plantations for carbon sequestration on 

degraded land in Indonesia. - Ecology and Development Series No. 28

2. Wicke, B., Dornburg, V., Junginger, M., and Faaij, A. (2008): Different palm oil production systems 

for energy purposes and their greenhouse gas implications. – Biomass and Bioenergy 32. 1322–1337

3. Mathews J., Tan T. H., and Chong K. M. (2010): Indication of Soil Carbon Augmentation In Oil 

Palm Cultivated Inland Mineral Soils of Peninsular Malaysia. – The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 86 (1010): 

293-313

4. Murdiyarso, D., van Noordwijk, M., Wasrin, U. R., Tomich, T. P. and Gillison, A. N. (2002): 

Environmental benefits and sustainable land use options in the Jambi transect, Sumatra. Journal of 

Vegetation Science 13:429–438 (not found from literature sources but is referenced by many others) 

All of these studies point to the fact that there is significant below ground carbon in the form of pant 

root biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC) which is the microbial biomass and easily-decomposed 

plant residues A summary of the findings is given in Table 1. Please note that although there are 

differences in methodologies, all studies show significant amounts of soil organic carbon and below 

ground biomass. We believe that there is now enough data available in order to make a Tier 2 

estimation for oil palm plantations by IPCC. 
Project report 2 (4)

Internal

Oil R&T/Steven Gust 8 September 2010

Neste Oil Corporation Business ID 1852302-9

Domicile Espoo

www.nesteoil.com

Table 1. Estimated and measured carbon storages on oil palm plantations. Please refer to the 

attached articles.

Carbon content 

t C/ha

Above 

ground 

biomass 

calculated 

as t C/ha

Below 

ground 

biomass

calculated 

as t C/ha

soil organic 

carbon (SOC) 

t C/ha

Soil depth 

measured

Total 

Max

Total 

average

Winrock/IPCC 68 NA NA 68 68

Murdiyarso et 

al 2002

91 91

Wicke et al. 

2008

55 40 estimation 95* 95*

Mathews et al. 

2010

40.9 13.5 55-81 45 cm 135 126

Syahrinudin * 

2005

40.9 (16.6-

84.5)

13.5 183 5 m 296 238

Recommendation

We recommend that EPA take into consideration these articles in the estimation of ILUC in order to 

obtain a more representative picture for oil palm carbon sequestration. We would additionally like to 

offer the possibility of a brief teleconference regarding this issue 
Project report 3 (4)

Internal

Oil R&T/Steven Gust 8 September 2010

Neste Oil Corporation Business ID 1852302-9

Domicile Espoo

www.nesteoil.com

Short Review of Key Articles 

Syahrinudin (2005):The potential of oil palm and forest plantations for carbon sequestration on 

degraded land in Indonesia. - Ecology and Development Series No. 28

Biomass in oil palm standing stock, other vegetation, litter on above ground and soil organic matter has been 

extensively measured and found to be 53,9 t C/ha for biomass and a total carbon content of 183 t C/ha over the 

plantation cycle of 30 years. The article can be appraised as being highly reliable due to the advanced 

methodology. Measured data demonstrates that palm oil cultivation sequestrate carbon especially in soil. The 

largest average value of SOC over plantation cycle of 30 years 257,7 t C/ha. However the author recommends 

the lower estimation of 183 t/ha due to extremely high value measured under 10 year old plantation. The results 

may be criticized due to the lack of sample size but they are consistent with larger data of soil fertility study 

concerning soil depth of 45 cm (Mathews et al. 2010).

Mathews J., Tan T. H., and Chong K. M. (2010): Indication of Soil Carbon Augmentation In Oil Palm 

Cultivated Inland Mineral Soils of Peninsular Malaysia. – The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 86 (1010): 293-

313

A larger data set of soil fertility study concerning a soil depth of 45 cm is analyzed within the article in which oil 

palm plantation is shown to sequestrate carbon over repeated plantation cycles from 55 to 80 t C/ha 

respectively. Other studies and impact of more sustainable cultivation methods are discussed. The soil organic 

carbon value measured by Mathews et al. is less than half of average SOC measured by Syahrinudin and only 

depth of 45 cm is studied, therefore the value of 80,8 t SOC/ha can be considered as most reliable result 

defensible and comparable to other studies.
Project report 4 (4)

Internal

Oil R&T/Steven Gust 8 September 2010

Neste Oil Corporation Business ID 1852302-9

Domicile Espoo

www.nesteoil.com